Lone Girl

Chapter 9

The whole week passed pretty quickly and I didn’t get to talk much with Swetha, apparently Trisha is trying to bond with her. I felt happy for Swetha. Even though I feel lonely without Swetha, I didn’t  reveal it before her because I shouldn’t be selfish. Our interactions reduced even more when Trisha started to take her out every evening. The only person left who talked to me was Dev.

The detentions, which I hated once became the only time I actually had someone to talk with. Over the week, Dev became a good friend to me. We even started texting each other. Although, he would hang out mostly with his gang, we were talking through out the detention hour.

Swetha went on a school trip and she would be back only after a week. So now I have to spend one more week without my little sister. Also as my detention got completed I wouldn’t be getting to talk with Dev even. I’m really worried how the next week is going to turn out. I hope some miracle happens and Swetha returns within blink of an eye.

***

I hate Mondays so much. I literally had to drag myself to school today. The classes were all so boring and I somehow made it till the lunch. I sat in my usual place near the library. After sometime Dev came and sat beside me.

“Hi Anu.”

“Hey?”, I said staring at him questioningly.

“What?”, he said looking at my questioning look.

“Well, you never talked to me during the lunch.”, I stated and shrugged my shoulders.

Before he could answer, my phone beeped and I opened my phone to check the message. I cleared the Netflix notification and  kept staring at Swetha's picture thinking about what she might be doing right now. 'I miss you Swetha. Come back soon.’

“ Is she your sister?”, Dev asked pointing at my phone.

“ Yeah. She’s my younger sister and I love her so much.”

“Looks like she’s so special to you.”

“She’s my everything.” I paused as I didn’t want him to know much about my family.

Dev looked at me for a few minutes as if debating to say something or not. Finally he spoke, “ Well, I don’t know what is your problem but I can say she is the remedy.”

I looked at him as if saying to continue.

“ I mean she is the only sibling that actually has a bond with you.”

“Excuse me?” , my voice is full of anger. Even though I knew it was right, I don’t want to accept it.

“What?”, he said coyly.

“How can you say things like that to someone’s face even without knowing the truth?”, I was so furious. ‘I am not going to open up to a stranger about my family.

“Anu, listen. Anyone can easily say that your siblings don’t care much about each other. Three of you stay in the same house but  never talk to each other in college. Each of you comes by your own and spend time with your own friends. Of course not to mention that you don’t have any friends. And about your sister, the way you kept looking at her picture is enough to say that you both care for each other.” He concluded with a big smirk on his face.

I sat there silently not knowing how to react and waited for the ground to swallow me altogether.

“Well, Anu, I think I should keep going. Have a nice day. Remember, if you want someone to talk, you know where to find me. See you around.” He stood up to leave and before leaving he flashed his million dollar friendly smile. Although his eyes had a very unfriendly look.

***

“Everyone remember, next Monday will be your first report on your project and I won’t be entertaining any late submissions.”, said Mr. Murthy, our art teacher.

The discussions started across the class as students started planning about their project reports. I turned towards Karan and he was deeply involved in his book drawing something. I cleared my throat to gain his attention and he looked at me with a questioning look.

“ How will we be preparing the report?”

“Don’t worry about it, I will prepare it.”, he said looking frustrated.

“What if I don’t like it?”, I said annoyed by him.

“In that case, you can prepare the report by yourself”, he said flashing me a fake smile.

“It’s a group project Karan, it means it should be done together.”, I said gritting my teeth.

“Uff. Ok. The due date is next Monday, right? We will think about it later. Now if you leave me alone I have important things to concentrate on.” He turned his attention again towards his sketch book.

I huffed and soon zoned out the class.

Author’s note:

Will that miracle Anu was hoping for happen?